Where to get Calcium ?
I expect the response to be from “Dairy” as this is what the dairy council has been training us with their school posters, advertisements, etc since grade school.
However like all minerals, it originally comes from the ground and is absorbed through the roots of plants and then eaten by animals.
Since dairy is rich in calcium, it seems like a natural solution to our bodies needs for calcium. Westerners eat on average 500-600 mg/day. Humans need 150-200 mg/day even when lactating or pregnant. US recommends 1000-2000 mg/day
WHO several years ago commissioned studies on all major nutrients to see where in the world there might be deficiencies. They could find no where in the world that had a deficiency in calcium. Yet many places eat no dairy. Actually the places that have no osteoporosis in older women are where they eat no dairy products. An example is the Bantu women in Africa , where they eat no dairy and have on average 10 pregnancies and breast feed for 10 months. These women when they are in their 70-80’s have bone densities similar to 20-30 year olds.
Studies show that the more dairy and the more protein people consume then the higher the rate of hip fractures. Why is this so? It has to do with sulfur containing amino acids found primarily in animal products and methionine, which must be neutralized in the body by Calcium hydroxide taken from our bones as well as the diuretic effect of excess protein leading to more calcium loss in the urine.
Well , what about calcium supplements ? They actually often act as antacid to buffer these amino acids, but in the BMJ 2010, it was reported that there was a 30 % increase in MI with calcium supplementation.
No study of vegans , has ever shown a calcium deficiency.